violence kills 30 Iraqis, 3 GIs

BAGHDAD — Amid a political deadlock over the formation of a new government, Shiite leaders have launched a new offensive in favor of embattled Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari by trying to drive a wedge between Kurds and Sunni Arabs who have opposed al-Jaafari winning a full term in office.

Meanwhile, at least 30 Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday in the continuing insurgency and sectarian violence.

Al-Jaafari and his supporters have suggested that Iraq's presidency could be awarded to a Sunni rather than a Kurd, sowing a potential rift between the two groups who, until now, have joined to fight al-Jaafari. In Iraq's interim government, the Shiites had received the prime minister post, Kurds the presidency and a Sunni has served as speaker of the parliament.

On Wednesday, acting parliament speaker Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni who is a former Iraqi foreign minister, said he has called on the parliament to convene Monday "to preserve the credibility of the political process."

"The Iraqi people want to see the new government as soon as possible," said Pachachi. Setting a date "will urge the officials and the politicians to double their efforts."

He added that there are "encouraging indications that an agreement will be reached" before the session.

But the latest machinations appeared to be creating a new round of ill will, with the prospect of the presidency being handed to the Sunnis, angering Kurdish politicians.

"Partnership means getting either the presidency or the prime minister's post," said Abdul-Khaleq Zangana, a Kurdish legislator. "Renegotiating the [presidency] was brought up as a reaction to what is happening now to al-Jaafari."

Salih al-Mutlak, a leading Sunni politician, agreed that al-Jaafari's backers "are trying to make some sort of division between Kurds and Sunni Arabs."

Both he and representatives from the Iraqi slate, a secular group backed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, have expressed a new willingness to consider al-Jaafari as head of the next government.

In violence Wednesday, a car bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque north of Baqouba as people were leaving after evening prayers, killing at least 26 people and injuring 70 others, police said.

The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks targeting the nation's majority Shiite population. On Friday, suicide bombers killed at least 80 people at a mosque in Baghdad.

On the highway between the capital and the northern city of Kirkuk, two Iraqi police officers were killed and four others injured in an attack on an oil convoy Wednesday, according to Iraqi officials.

In another attack near Baqouba, a car bomb killed two people and injured ten others at a busy local market. Also, the bodies of five men who had been shot execution-style were found in various parts of Baghdad.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday in roadside bombings--two south of Baghdad and a third east of the capital, the U.S. military said.

The military also reported that a U.S. soldier from the 101st Airborne Division died Monday from a "non-battle injury" near Tal Afar in northern Iraq.

Casualties among U.S. forces have risen in recent weeks. In March, 31 U.S. service members died in Iraq, the lowest monthly figure since February 2005, according to an Associated Press count. So far this month, the U.S. death toll stands at 35.